Cisco adds more to its Catalyst switch range

Networking giant Cisco will introduce Wan modules to its Catalyst 6000 multi-layer switches for enterprise and carrier networks.

Networking giant Cisco will introduce Wan modules to its Catalyst 6000 multi-layer switches for enterprise and carrier networks.

Announced at the Partner Summit in Las Vegas, Cisco said the FlexWan offers a migration path for users that need higher Wan speeds than OC-3 interface. The company said it will not make its 7500 series routers obsolete.

Soni Jiandani, vice president of marketing for the enterprise line of Cisco's workgroup business unit, said product lines will complement each other and that development of the 7500 series will continue.

"The 7500 has a high port density and is used to aggregate Wan," she said. "The Catalyst will accept only one or two Wan ports. Also, many services will be introduced to the 7500 that will not initially be available on the Catalyst."

Features from the 7500, such as virtual private network encryption and multi-protocol label switching, will migrate to the Catalyst, said Jiandani, who pointed out the IOS software is common to both platforms. The FlexWan will eventually scale up to OC-48 and OC-192 interfaces, while the 7500 will not scale past OC-3, she said.

Cisco's rivals, such as Nortel, have long argued that switches with optical wide-area interfaces will replace old world routers, and even though Cisco sees the router versus switch argument as an artificial marketing distinction, the announcement will allow Cisco to compete directly against products such as Nortel's Accellar.

The Catalyst will accept 20 different types of port adaptor from E3 to OC-3 and support many transport protocols including Frame Relay, ATM and packet over Sonet.